


By the Seat of His Pants

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-06-30
Updated: 2002-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:03:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of theWest Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in theannouncement post.





	1. By the Seat of His Pants

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**By the Seat of his Pants**

**by:** Dee 

**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Rating: MATURE**  
**Spoilers:** Thru Stirred  


**Notes:** Somewhere on the campaign trail. This story is for anyone whoever got stuck in the middle seat on a red eye. Follows: "Cool People Sit in the Back"  


**Chapter 1**

"Hey." 

Donna looked up from her monitor. "What are you doing back?"

Josh looked at his watch. "It's only eleven."

She smiled and shook her head. "Only you would see that as plenty of time left in the work day."

"What are you still doing here? I told you, you could go."

"I had stuff I wanted to clean up. I have the polling numbers from those four districts you wanted. They're on your desk."

"Am I going to be happy?"

"You're going to wish you stayed for dessert."

"Damn," he muttered. 

"Hope dinner was at least good."

"It was."

"Where did you go?"

"That place you told me about� Leonardo's."

"Leonardo's," Donna said simultaneously. "I love that place."

"I know you do."

They looked at each other for a moment too long then Donna bent her head toward the keyboard. Not that she needed to see the keyboard to know what she was typing. But it gave her a reason not to look at him. Things had been slightly off between them since the hotel room incident, which was a shame because they had just gotten back on track when that trip happened. 

Well, Donna was going to do her part to make things as normal as possible. She wasn't going to talk about the hotel room incident. She wasn't going to talk about anything remotely resembling anything personal�

"Amy really liked it too."

Great, she thought sourly. "If you're staying you should look at those numbers," she said a little briskly and hoped he didn't notice.

"Kay. What's the matter?"

Since when did Josh become the sort of guy who noticed everything? Her normally self-absorbed boss had seemingly turned into Mr. Sensitive Guy in the last few weeks and she didn't like it. It made it that much harder to keep him at a distance.

"Nothing," she said faking a smile. "I'm just starting to get cranky. Go look at the numbers because I'm only going to be here for a little while longer so if you want me to change anything�"

"You ever think about marriage?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Uh..."

"Never mind," he said suddenly. "I'll go look at the numbers."

Donna watched him turn and head to his office. Marriage. He was actually starting to think about marriage. And why wouldn't he. He'd been in a committed relationship with the same woman for almost six months. Granted, not a long time in the scheme of things but an average courtship length for the over thirties. 

Josh married to Amy. Josh married to anyone. It was a difficult picture to imagine. Somebody else to run his stupid errands. Somebody else to pick up his dry cleaning. Somebody else to take care of him when he was sick� or hurt. 

Somebody not her. 

She tried to see herself sitting at his wedding, watching him commit himself to another woman. She tried to envision herself being happy about it, but couldn't. There was no point in pretending going to his wedding would be easy. 

There was even less point in pretending that she could continue to work with him and have the relationship that she had with him after he was married. 

What was she going to do? The answer to that was unfortunately very clear.

  
She was right. The numbers sucked. He would have to talk about this with Bruno tomorrow. Maybe some focused issue ads in that part of the country. The hell of this was that his schedule was packed with actual� work tomorrow. Little things like the budget, energy and the environment. 

Four years ago the campaign was the only thing that mattered. Now, it was more of an annoyance than anything else. And suddenly it was painfully obvious to him why incumbents lost.

Which is why it was important to him that he start thinking about the future. Just think about it. He was still optimistic that they would win. He was absolutely planning on another four years, but if it didn't happen� if things didn't go their way� he needed to be prepared.

A resourceful politician always had a backup plan. So did spies and boy scouts for that matter so Josh felt as if he was in good company.

He could teach, but he doubted he had the patience. He could write, but he wasn't really that good at it. He could attach himself to another candidate, but no doubt he would want to take over and tell them what they were doing wrong and how they should be more like Jed Bartlet. No, it was too soon to find another racehorse. That left only one option.

Consulting.

People would pay him just to find out the stuff he knew. It was a truly great country. He could find some office space; maybe give Donna her own office rather than just a cube. Something with a window. She'd like that.

"I'm going," she announced from his doorway, startling him out of his reverie.

"Okay."

"What were you thinking about?" she asked. 

The future must have been stamped on his face. "The future."

"Okay, marriage, the future, you're starting to scare me, Josh. Did you grow up when I wasn't looking?"

"I can be mature."

"No you can't."

"No, I can't. I've just been doing a lot of thinking."

Donna walked into his office and sat on the arm of his quest chair. "I've noticed."

"Things are changing."

"And we both know how you hate that."

"I guess I just want to feel like I'm prepared� if something happens."

"Like what?"

"Like losing."

"Josh Lyman, did you just say lose?"

"Yeah," he grinned. "I didn't even know I had it in my vocabulary."

"You think we might lose?" Donna asked worriedly. This would speed up her plans immeasurably. 

"No," he countered quickly. "I don't. I just want to feel like we have plan. You know � in case"

We. Him and Amy. He was starting to think of them as a "we." And he was asking about marriage. Was it possible that it wasn't just talk? Maybe he'd already bought her the ring. That would definitely force her to speed things up.

"I have to go," she announced.

"Oh. Okay. You okay getting home?"

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow. You have staff early."

"I hate staff early," he complained.

"I know," she muttered. She knew so many things. 

Josh watched her leave and found himself vaguely depressed. He wanted to tell her about her new office space. Maybe then she would stop being so� what? He couldn't really name the emotion that had plagued her for the last few weeks. She wasn't depressed. She still teased him, still smiled, but there was something a little forced in those smiles. 

What he really wanted to do was get her advice on Amy. Things were getting to `that' point. The point where they either needed to take it to the next stage or call it quits. He was opting to call it quits but he wanted someone else to tell him that it was okay, and that he wasn't running away from commitment and marriage. That was his intent when he brought the subject up, but she got this funny look on her face. 

Maybe because she wasn't dating anyone right now. Women tended to panic about marriage when it wasn't in their foreseeable future. 

And maybe he was panicking a little too. On paper Amy was the perfect wife. She was smart, strong, sophisticated, politically savvy. He would respect her career; she would respect his. They would have a place in the country, and a townhouse downtown. They would be blissfully happy. Except for one thing� he wasn't in love with her.

Amy. Marriage. Marriage. Amy. It should fit, but it didn't. Instead it struck an inharmonious cord in his ear.

Nope, it wasn't going to work. Not that it hadn't been fun, but she was hinting at him moving in and since he had absolutely no intention of doing so, he figured the best thing he could do was let her know now. He'd already begun his you don't want to be with me because I'm a workaholic and too absorbed with my own life to care about yours tactics. That's why he was sitting in his office alone, instead of having sex with his girlfriend. All he needed to do now was wait it out a little longer until she broke up with him. 

He gave her two weeks at the most. Three if she was stubborn or if he was traveling. Amy wouldn't put up with the bullshit for much longer than that. 

Once that was done. He could focus. On the campaign. On the future. On �no, he wouldn't go there. Not yet. First things were first.  



	2. By the Seat of His Pants 2

**By the Seat of his Pants**

**by:** Dee 

**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Rating: MATURE**  
**Spoilers:** Thru Stirred  


**Notes:** Somewhere on the campaign trail. This story is for anyone whoever got stuck in the middle seat on a red eye. Follows: "Cool People Sit in the Back"  


**Chapter 2**

"You're here." 

Josh looked up while still holding the receiver between ear and his shoulder. He stared at Amy who was currently standing in his doorway. He held his finger up to indicate that he was listening and tried not to grimace when she sat down and threw her legs up on the desk. His desk.

"Yeah. No. Tell them�. no, don't tell them that. Tell them� I don't know� tell them we'll think about it. Okay, we'll do actual research. Tell them we'll research it. Okay. No, go talk, I'll hold."

He rested receiver down on his shoulder. "What's up?"

"That's what I want to know. I thought we had plans."

His eyebrows arched really high on his head in his attempt to give her his innocent yet forgetful look. The truth was he knew they had plans and he blew them off. This was just another phase in the whole you really don't want to be my girlfriend strategy.

"We did?"

"Yes, Josh we did. What the hell is going on here?"

He heard talking and immediately picked up the phone. "What do you mean research wasn't good enough?" he whined into the receiver. "Did you tell them about the millions we were going to be committing to it? Oh. I didn't? Tell them millions. I'll hold." Again, he rested the phone on his shoulder. To Amy he asked, "What's going on with what?"

"Is that Donna?"

"Yeah, we left her in East Podunk to clean up a few things and she's getting grief from the constituency."

"Josh, where are we going?"

Oh God, he thought. Please not the where are we going talk. Not tonight. "Amy�"

"No, we're doing this now. I know you're not in the mood, I know you've got your precious little Donna on the phone�"

"She's not my precious little Donna."

"Whatever. We need to talk about the future."

"I want to talk about the future," he admitted. "I've been doing a lot of thinking about it actually. And I need to talk to you about those things that I've been thinking, just not now. I'll come over later tonight."

"It will be too late."

"Then tomorrow. I promise. It's important to me, Amy. Really."

She pulled her legs off the desk and stood. "Tomorrow, Josh. I'm serious."

"I'm serious too." He watched her leave and picked up the phone again. He heard nothing but after a second he thought he heard someone on the other end breathing. "Donna?"

"Yeah," came the reply.

"Oh. I was still holding. Okay what did they say?"

The conversation continued and Josh didn't think anything of it. That is until two days later when Donna returned.

"We need to talk."

Josh picked his head up. That was funny, he thought, Amy had said those very same words to him last night. He'd gone over to have his big "future talk" but she had started the break up process before he even had a chance. 

She said he'd been avoiding her. He agreed. She said he was doing the workaholic thing on purpose. He agreed. She asked him why he couldn't be honest, and he said it was because he was a jackass.

She agreed.

The whole thing took a matter of minutes. Then he was packing up his spare suit and underwear and heading out the door. 

Only now Donna was standing in the doorway of his office with a letter in her hand telling him that they needed to talk. He didn't think it was possible for her to break up with him. But then again, he was just a guy. What the hell did he know?

"What's up?"

"I'm going to give you this, but I need you to understand."

"Understand what?"

She thrust the letter at him and he took it, watching her statement the whole time. He opened it and read the three neatly type lines followed by her signature.

"Is this a joke?"

"You remember the job offer a I got a couple of months ago?"

"You didn't take it."

"I didn't. But he called and the person they hired didn't work out. And now he's asking me again, and Josh I really don't think I can say no."

"Sure you can, you tell me no all the time. Watch. Donna, go get me some coffee."

"No."

"See."

"Josh," she said and sighed. "I told you I need you to understand."

"I don't understand," he said getting slightly anxious. "You didn't take the job."

"But not for any good reason."

"How about because the work you do here is important?"

"It is important, but you agree that it might be over soon. I have an opportunity to a make a lot of money, and even if it's only for a year or two, I can earn enough money to go back to college."

"I didn't know you were thinking of doing that."

"I've been thinking about it for a long time. You've never once made me feel unworthy or stupid because I didn't have a degree�"

"Because you're not."

She smiled then. "Thank you. But there have been times, I've felt�I don't know. Second class."

"That's not why you're leaving me."

She took a deep breath and moved closer. "I'm not leaving `you', Josh. I'm leaving the job."

"This is because I said the word lose," he stated, distracted now that his mind was focused on the real reason she was doing this. "But I just said it Donna. I don't plan on doing it."

"I know," she assured him. "But this job offer might not be here in four years."

"You can say that again," he snapped.

"Josh, I'm asking you to understand."

"You keep saying that!" he shouted. "What the hell do you want me to understand? You're leaving because you want money. Fine. Go."

He saw the hurt register on her face. That was one of Donna's problems. You could always tell when you hurt her. 

"I can't do this if I don't have your support."

Was she kidding? "You want my support to leave me?"

"The job. Yes. I want your support. I want you to say, it's possible Donna that we might not win. It's possible that this is your last chance at this kind of financial opportunity. I want you to say thank you."

"Thank you!"

"For five years. For a thousand weekends and another thousand nights."

"Okay, Donna, slight exaggeration. There aren't a thousand weekends in five years�"

"Thank you for being the most devoted, the most loyal assistant a Deputy Chief of Staff could have. But things are changing, and I think it might be the right time for you to go. That's what I want you to say, Josh. And I want you to mean it."

He looked at her and he could see the truth in her eyes. She wanted his support. More than that she wanted his approval. "I don't know if I can."

"I can't live in a world where you hate me."

"I don't hate you," he admitted.

"I can't live in a world where you think I betrayed you."

"You're not betraying me, Donna." She was just leaving him.

"I can't live in a world where I've disappointed you, either."

This time he shook his head. "Well, you're going to have to live in that world."

She nodded. "I guess that's fair. I know this isn't the best time to be doing this, but Casey needs me to start as soon as possible."

"Yeah," he replied feeling suddenly as if his world was spinning out of control.

Donna circled his desk and got down on her knees between his legs. The position would have been compromising if it weren't so damn innocent. "You remember when you hired me, you told me that a campaign wasn't a place to start over."

He smiled against his sadness. "You asked why � would it get in the way of your typing?"

"I did start over, Josh. And I became so many things because of you. Thank you. Thank you for the long nights and the weekends because every time I stayed I learned. And every time I needed someone, really needed someone, you were there. You've been the one constant in my life."

"So why are you leaving? I promised you, you know in the hotel room, that I wasn't going to make you stay� like a dog."

"Then let me leave."

"No," he said stubbornly.

"Please."

"Oh, like that's going to work."

"Josh!"

"I need you, Donna! I'm in the middle of an election."

"And I need to leave."

"Why?"

"I told you."

"Don't talk to me about money. You've never given a damn about it before."

"It's not just the money," she admitted. "It's � my chance."

"If we lost, I was going to get us office space," he blurted out. "You were going to get a window."

She smiled. And for a moment she wavered, but only for a moment. Visions of spending the rest of her life on the sideline of his life flittered before her eyes. That wasn't the life she wanted. 

"Be honest, Josh. Given everything that's happened in the last twelve months, everything that's changed, didn't you sort of see this coming?"

He had, and he hated it. And he should have done something before to stop it. Now it was too late.

"I think it's the right time for me to go. But I will miss you. Don't think I won't. Not for a minute."

He looked down into her face. "You act like you're never going to see me again." 

She stood and cupped his face in her hand. His very precious face that forty years from now she would still be able to close her eyes and remember. "No, of course we'll see each other. And I better get an invitation."

She stepped back and made her way to the door. Josh stood and followed her thinking that maybe he shouldn't let his happen. He should do something to stop it. But CJ's words haunted him, and he wondered if it wasn't time to let her go as his assistant. Perhaps the time for something else had come. 

"I promise you'll be invited. If we win that is," he said thinking she was referring to one of the many Inaugural Balls.

"I was talking about the wedding. I'm going to go tell Casey everything is a go and that I can start in two weeks. I'll be back in a little while."

The wedding? What wedding?  



	3. By the Seat of His Pants 3

**By the Seat of his Pants**

**by:** Dee 

**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Rating: MATURE**  
**Spoilers:** Thru Stirred  


**Notes:** Somewhere on the campaign trail. This story is for anyone whoever got stuck in the middle seat on a red eye. Follows: "Cool People Sit in the Back"  


**Chapter 3**

Donna flipped through circular wrack of clothes dispassionately. She had come to the Pentagon City Mall hoping to find a new outfit. A pick me up for her first day at her new job, but nothing struck her eye. 

Probably because she wasn't excited about the new job. She practically groaned aloud in her misery. Josh was right. Why did everything have to change? Why did she have to leave? She could have stayed. She could have found a way to live with presence of Amy in his life. She'd done it already for months, hadn't she?

Her reasons had been so sound when she'd written her resignation later. The idea of living her life as his half wife, while Amy got to be the real thing had seemed, at the time, untenable. It had been a matter of pride. 

But pride could be a lonely thing.

Why couldn't she simply be happy with the way things were. Accept the fact that their relationship was special. More intimate than co-  
workers, more co-dependent then boss/assistant. More profound than mere friends. 

It was just less than lovers.

"Donna?"

Speaking of lovers. "Amy," Donna said and tried to smile. No really she did try. "What are you doing here? Shopping� of course you're shopping if you're here. In the mall."

"So I guess you heard."

"Uh� not officially. I guess� congratulations."

Amy looked at her strangely. "Well, I suppose you know him better than I do."

"I do," Donna agreed. Then realized how that might sound. "I mean I don't. Know him that well� I mean like you know him�intimately." Fortunately the command from her brain to shut up now closed her mouth.

"Yeah, well, I just hope he's crying. A little crying would definitely be good."

Crying. Why did she want him to cry? "You mean from happiness?"

This time Amy glared at her. "Thanks," she snapped.

Suddenly Donna realized something very important. "I don't think we're talking about the same thing."

"Josh and I broke up."

"Oh."

"What did you think happened?"

"Uh� I thought�you guys compromised on the health care thing." 

Amy nodded, but she wasn't dumb. "It was never going to work. We're too�"

"Much alike," Donna finished automatically.

"I was going to say committed to our work, but that works too."

Donna was still back on the fact that they broke up. Josh had been thinking about marriage and Amy dumped him. He must be reeling right now, having the two women in his life walk out on him at the same time. 

"I've got to go," Amy said and was about to turn away. "He's got a good heart. I know that despite the fact that he's a jackass most of the time. But he needs someone to take care of him."

"He does."

"And that's not me."

"It isn't," Donna agreed. She'd known that from the very beginning. 

"Really, he needs someone like you."

"I'm his assistant."

"Yeah, that's what you both keep saying. You should listen to yourselves say it sometime. See you, Donna."

"Bye, Amy." Donna watched her go and hung up the shirt she'd been holding in her hand. Looks like she wasn't going to need the pick-me-  
up after all.

  
"Hey," Josh announced from CJ's door as he leaned against the frame.

CJ shuffled about her desk gathering notes. She glanced up for a quick, "Hey," then went back to her search. A few minutes later she had what she needed, but Josh was still lingering in the door.

"Uh, Josh, you know Simon gets slightly nervous at anyone who stares at me for too long."

"Oh, right," Josh muttered, looking around and spotting the unobtrusive guard a few feet away. Simon nodded and Josh acknowledged him.

"Did you need something?"

"Donna's leaving." He needed to practice saying the words to help him believe it.

CJ sighed and removed her glasses. "I heard. She took the job."

"Yeah."

"It's not a horrible thing, Josh. And it's not fair for you to be mad at her."

"I'm not mad."

"No. You're hurt. You look like the boy who just found out there's no Santa Clause."

"I'm Jewish. I know there's no Santa."

"Josh�"

"How would you feel if Carol left?"

"If Carol came to me and said that she'd been offered a better paying job that she felt was going to be an excellent opportunity to forward her career, which this is for Donna, then I would tell her it's going to suck without her, but good luck."

"It's going to suck without Donna," Josh agreed. "You know I broke up with Amy."

"Thank God," CJ muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I said oh no. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't working out."

"Hmm. So you got the double whammy this week. No girlfriend and no assistant."

"Yeah," he sighed. "The thing is � I think Donna might have left because�"

"What?"

Josh shook his head. CJ would not doubt call him an egomaniac. And she would be right. The idea that Donna would take a job just because she thought he might be getting married was ludicrous. Wasn't it? CJ would tell him that it was. She would tell him that Donna was just taking the next step in her career, getting a huge bump in salary, and moving on to meet the next new challenge.

He really should have beefed up the part about her getting her own office with the window.

"Nothing. I should go."

"Josh," CJ said almost reluctantly before he turned to leave. "Have you considered why this is going to be so difficult for you?"

"Because it's Donna, and she does everything, and makes this all work, and � because it's Donna," he finished lamely.

"Let me ask you something, what are you going to miss most about Amy?"

"The sex."

"What are you going to miss most about Donna?"

The emptiness that had been clawing at him since he'd read her resignation letter seemed to grow inside his stomach. "Donna," he sighed.

"Think about that," CJ said. "Just don't realize the answer until after we get re-elected, okay?"

Josh smiled slowly. "You think I should get her back?"

"I think you won't be able to help yourself. And I think God help us. Now get the hell out of here before I have Simon shoot off a vital part of your anatomy and spare us all."

"Donna! Come in. This is great. I can show you your office. They just finished wallpapering."

"My office is going to be wallpapered?" A wallpapered office. Wow.

"Absolutely. Nothing but the best." Casey stood up and started for her but Donna held her hand out to stop him.

"I can't have a wallpapered office." Damn it.

"You prefer paint?"

"No, I prefer�" Donna took a huge breath unable to believe that she was about to do this for the second time in one year. "A small cubicle crammed with too much paper, too many people, and Styrofoam cups."

Casey's smile fell. "You're going back to him."

"I'm going to back to the job," she insisted.

He moved back to his desk and sat on the edge. He pointed to the chair in front of him. "Donna, sit down."

Out of courtesy and because she didn't want to eliminate the possibility of him hiring her in the future� say the next time Josh got a girlfriend� Donna did.

"I like you, Donna. That's partly why I offered you this job."

"You like me? I always thought you were gay."

He chuckled. "I am gay. I meant I like you as a person."

"Oh. Good. Because you know that other thing might have been loosely construed as harassment."

"You don't work for me yet."

"True."

"Listen, I just don't want to see you get hurt. There is talk out there� about you and Lyman."

"Casey, I'm going back to the job. The job is Josh. People are going to talk. I can't stop that, but nothing is going on between us."

"I remember the pictures of you by his side after the shooting. There's something going on�"

Donna opened her mouth to protest, but Casey forestalled her. "Maybe not sexually. Maybe not yet. But if you go back to him. If you stay with him. Eventually, something is going to happen. And because this is the sensationalized world we live in, I can't imagine that that something is going to end happily. Not for you."

He was right. Going back was a risk, and she was lying to herself if she didn't acknowledge that.

"Work for me," Casey urged her. "Then, if you want, you can date him and no one will blink an eye."

"The thing is," Donna smiled. "Josh would make a lousy boyfriend."

"Just think about it will you? Think about what I'm offering you. Think about the kind of life you could have here. And the sort of future you could build for yourself."

"I'm thinking about the wallpaper," she teased. 

"Think about it."

"I'm more of an impulse girls. You know, fly by the seat of my pants kind of thing."

"What about him?"

Donna considered that. "Oh Josh totally flies by the seat of his pants. See the thing about us though, why we work so well together, is that I know when to hold on to his belt, and he knows when to hold on to mine."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, Casey."

Josh sat at his desk bouncing a ball that he'd borrowed from Toby against the wall. But instead of helping him think of ways to approach Donna all it did was give him a headache.

"You get the ball from, Toby?"

At sound of her voice he turned and forgot to catch his ball. It bounced off his head, which he thought was fitting. "What are you doing back here tonight?"

"What were you sitting here trying to think about?" she asked in response. 

"Stuff. Life. The future. My new assistant."

Donna walked into his office and out of habit started to straighten things on his desk. "You got a replacement already?"

"No," he said quickly. "I was just thinking of who I might get."

"What would she be like?"

"Or he."

"Or he," she said as she stacked his folders.

"She would be efficient, punctual, hardworking, and available all hours of the day, night and weekends."

"I see. A masochist."

"I'm not done yet," he said. "She would have to predict my needs, get me focused when I needed it, make sure that I'm always prepared for the situation I'm about to walk into, or the person who is coming to see me. And she'd have to know when I was walking into trouble."

"Ah so she's a magician too."

"She'd have to be willing to work for less than the market would pay, but because she believes in the work that would be okay."

"And a saint. Wherever will you find her?"

"She'd have to be in tune with me. She'd have to be my friend, make me laugh, and understand me on a personal level like no one else because she is really the only person I trust."

"Sounds like a tall order," Donna said quietly.

"The tallest. But I know someone. Someone who I think could get the job done."

His desk was cleaned. And without the actual words between them, they both came to the realization that she was staying. 

"I broke up with Amy," he told her.

"I know. I ran into her."

"Is that why you came back?"

"It's not why I left," she lied.

"Okay. I would have come after you. Marched down to his office and kidnapped you or something."

Donna smiled sweetly. "It's because you're impulsive like that."

"I like to fly by seat of my pants," Josh agreed. 

Donna nodded. "Come on, it's late. You can take me to dinner to celebrate my return."

Josh got up and circled the desk, wrapping an arm around her waist. "So this is why you left, to get a free dinner?"

"Yes, Josh. You've stumbled on to my diabolical plan. I plan to resign once a week to get fed."

He chuckled and moved them through the door when she stopped and turned to him. "You know someday, I really am going to have to leave."

"But not today."

"No. Not today. And Josh..."

"Yeah?"

"When I get my office that you promised... I want it wallpapered."

  
The End.  



End file.
